Back to Basics Mission #17

BACK TO BASICS! Musing #17: Time to Dream!

Dear Friends,

I found the internet in 1996 when I was attending Brevard College. The very first thing I ever searched for on the internet was help getting my home in order. I typed in the search box, The Sidetracked Home Executives, Pam Young and Peggy Jones. I was delighted to find them after several years of being sidetracked!

Their books and system helped me to survive a bad marriage and keep things together for my son! They taught me how to be kind to myself. I went searching for ways to “Get Organized” and found myself in the process of eliminating the clutter in my life.

It is amazing what you can find underneath all the clutter you have stashed. Over the years we have held on to so much useless junk. Much of that junk was the anger, guilt and sadness we stuffed because we didn’t want to deal with it. What I found as I got my home in order was that with each physical piece of clutter I got rid of, I also got to toss out some of my negativity and perfectionism.

That negativity and perfectionism was holding me down. It was keeping me from FLYing! The truth is that it was really stopping me from being who I was supposed to be. When your clutter has held you captive you become its slave. You don’t have time to follow your dreams. After many years of imprisonment you even forget what your dreams were.

The reason you forgot your dreams is they seemed impossible to attain with the house being a mess. I can help you find your dreams again and all you have to do is put one foot in front of another. This is not a magical “Get Organized Quick” Scheme.

We can all get our houses clean really fast if company is coming. The problem is that our homes do not stay that way very long because we can’t find anything after we have stashed and dashed. I want to give you the tools to keep your house only 15 minutes away from being company ready. As we get rid of our clutter we find places to put things. As my Granny always said, “Everything has a place and everything in your place.

When you don’t have a place for things because your useful storage is occupied by clutter, that’s when your stuff is homeless. All of your homeless stuff begins to take over every flat surface in your home. We call those cluttered up flat surfaces Hot Spots. Our Hot Spots make our homes look messy. That messy home makes us feel bad and when we feel defeated we close out the world and stop dreaming.

We all have to start someplace or just start over! Let’s get BACK TO BASICS! and go shine your sink. Lay your clothes out for tomorrow, get up and get dressed to your lace up shoes, use a timer to keep you focused and declutter for 15 minutes each day. The beauty to all of this is that it is not too much to do. You don’t feel pressured. The best part is that you are empowered to keep taking these babysteps because they are doable! With each step you take the
peace begins to give you time to dream again!

What is your Dream? As your home comes together your dreams will become clear. I want to hear about your dream. Send it to me; FlyLady@flylady.net with TIME TO DREAM in the subject line.